119-460: The Hindmarsh Island bridge controversy was a 1990s Australian legal and political controversy that involved the clash of local Aboriginal Australian sacred culture and property rights . A proposed bridge to Hindmarsh Island , near Goolwa, South Australia (intended to replace the existing cable ferry and service a proposed marina development) attracted opposition from many local residents, environmental groups and indigenous leaders. In 1994,
238-593: A Holocene hunter-gatherer sample ("Leang Panninge") from South Sulawesi , which shares high amounts of genetic drift with Aboriginal Australians and Papuans. This suggests that a population split from the common ancestor of Aboriginal Australians and Papuans. The sample also shows genetic affinity with East Asians and the Andamanese people of South Asia. The authors note that this hunter-gatherer sample can be modelled with ~50% Papuan-related ancestry and either with ~50% East Asian or Andamanese Onge ancestry, highlighting
357-658: A 25-year ban on the bridge construction putting the marina in doubt and bringing the Chapmans close to bankruptcy. In February 1995 the Chapmans initiated a legal challenge of the ban in the Federal Court. Although the Judge praised Saunders report and criticised the Chapman's litigation, the Judge overturned the ban on a legal technicality . The media had heavily criticised the ban and focused on Tickner issuing it based on
476-465: A 25-year ban on the building of a bridge. That ban was overturned on a technicality. The veracity of the proponent's women story was not at issue. They had told their story and been believed but the Minister had erred in the manner in which he had dealt with the material. The Ngarrindjeri brought another application under the federal heritage act in 1995–6. This time Senator Rosemary Crowley appointed
595-772: A bridge and related activities in the Hindmarsh Island bridge area. Doreen Kartinyeri and Neville Gollan, speaking on behalf of the Ngarrindjeri people, challenged the legislation in the High Court. They argued that section 51(xxvi) of the Constitution as amended by the 1967 referendum only authorised laws for the benefit of the people of the Aboriginal race. Five judges held that the Bridge Act
714-511: A civil case in the Federal Court of Australia re-ignited the debate. In rejecting claims for damages by the developers, Justice John von Doussa stated that he was not satisfied that the claims of "secret women's business" had been fabricated, although never explicitly stating them to be true. The Ngarrindjeri and their supporters took the decision as a vindication, and many organisations subsequently apologised. Opinion remains divided over
833-425: A fertility site, and for other reasons that could not be publicly revealed. An anthropologist, Dr Deane Fergie, prepared an assessment of the women's claims, which was then submitted to Saunders. As a part of this process some of these cultural secrets were written down and sealed in two envelopes marked Confidential: to be read by women only and forwarded to Tickner with the assessment. On 10 July 1994, Tickner placed
952-611: A gene flow from India to Australia: firstly, signs of South Asian components in Aboriginal Australian genomes, reported on the basis of genome-wide SNP data; and secondly, the existence of a Y chromosome (male) lineage, designated haplogroup C∗, with the most recent common ancestor about 5,000 years ago. The first type of evidence comes from a 2013 study by the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology using large-scale genotyping data from
1071-607: A group of Ngarrindjeri women elders claimed the site was sacred to them for reasons that could not be revealed. The case attracted much controversy because the issue intersected with broader concerns about Indigenous rights , specifically Aboriginal land rights , in the Australian community at the time, and coincided with the Mabo and Wik High Court cases regarding native title in Australia . " Secret women's business ", as
1190-468: A limit of $ 3 million. In September 1990 Beneficial Finance decided to withdraw funding and the Chapmans approached Partnership Pacific, a subsidiary of Westpac , to take over the financing. Partnership Pacific agreed but only with the condition that the State Government paid the entire cost of the bridge. A secret meeting was arranged between the Chapmans, Westpac and the government at which it
1309-768: A map, the directors of the Association had great hopes for Wellington becoming an important town. The survey eventually provided for 700 lots in Wellington (west side of the Murray) and 300 lots in Wellington East (east side of the Murray), as well as rural sections. Messrs Cannan and Henderson carried out the survey in November 1840 and the first lots were sold in July 1841. Wellington was the original crossing of
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#17327662523701428-584: A much-needed bridge to replace their ferry and the government had agreed to build it. Seeking a way out of the Hindmarsh Island contract, Premier Brown hired Samuel Jacobs QC , to carry out an investigation into the legal responsibilities of the contract. Shortly before the 1993 elections the Labor government had instructed archaeologist, Dr Neil Draper, to survey Hindmarsh Island and the mainland foreshore for Aboriginal sites. Justice Jacobs, unaware of Draper's survey, finished his report in early 1994, concluding there
1547-635: A person as Indigenous. (Torres Strait Islanders are ethnically and culturally distinct, despite extensive cultural exchange with some of the Aboriginal groups, and the Torres Strait Islands are mostly part of Queensland but have a separate governmental status .) Some Aboriginal people object to being labelled Indigenous , as an artificial and denialist term, because some non-Aboriginal people have referred to themselves as indigenous because they were born in Australia. Australian Indigenous people have beliefs unique to each mob ( tribe ) and have
1666-642: A personal letter to the Managing Director of Westpac, Stewart Fowler, guaranteeing government financing of the bridge and in February 1991, Cabinet approved the funding agreement as outlined in the Premier's letter. Initially the government had no liability beyond paying half the cost of the bridge. Unfortunately, Premier Bannon's letter had created an unintended liability for the State government. Not only
1785-598: A pool of Aboriginal Australians, New Guineans, island Southeast Asians, and Indians. It found that the New Guinea and Mamanwa (Philippines area) groups diverged from the Aboriginal about 36,000 years ago (there is supporting evidence that these populations are descended from migrants taking an early "southern route" out of Africa, before other groups in the area). Also the Indian and Australian populations mixed long before European contact, with this gene flow occurring during
1904-481: A position on the claims, stated that additional evidence discovered since the von Doussa judgement had changed his view. "I still allow that aspects of these beliefs may have been embellished or given greater weight than before ... but the patterns and matches with earlier materials on some strands makes the overall fabrication theory insupportable." In September 2002, redevelopment of the Goolwa wharf, which lay adjacent
2023-615: A profound spiritual connection. Over the millennia, Aboriginal people developed complex trade networks, inter-cultural relationships, law and religions. Contemporary Aboriginal beliefs are a complex mixture, varying by region and individual across the continent. They are shaped by traditional beliefs, the disruption of colonisation, religions brought to the continent by Europeans, and contemporary issues. Traditional cultural beliefs are passed down and shared through dancing , stories , songlines , and art that collectively weave an ontology of modern daily life and ancient creation known as
2142-537: A project for the sole benefit of private developers, led South Australian Legislative Council member and leader of the Australian Democrats , Mike Elliott , to call for a Parliamentary inquiry into the bridge and the financial arrangements between the government and Westpac. One of its terms of reference dealt specifically with the propriety of the government's decision in conferring private benefits at taxpayers' expense. The inquiries’ findings criticised
2261-432: A senior Ngarrendjeri Elder, in November 1989 this was prior to the planning permission for the bridge being granted on condition of additional consultation. In the Federal Court hearing in 1994, Wendy Chapman gave evidence that the page of the letter setting out these additional consultation requirements was missing from the Minister's letter she had received (the same recommendations were also included in an assessment sent to
2380-495: A single group. Aboriginal identity has changed over time and place, with family lineage, self-identification, and community acceptance all of varying importance. In the 2021 census , Indigenous Australians comprised 3.8% of Australia's population. Most Aboriginal people today speak English and live in cities. Some may use Aboriginal phrases and words in Australian Aboriginal English (which also has
2499-411: A spirit creates the earth then tells the humans to treat the animals and the earth in a way which is respectful to land. In Northern Territory this is commonly said to be a huge snake or snakes that weaved its way through the earth and sky making the mountains and oceans. But in other places the spirits who created the world are known as wandjina rain and water spirits. Major ancestral spirits include
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#17327662523702618-470: A strong connection to the land. Contemporary Indigenous Australian beliefs are a complex mixture, varying by region and individual across the continent. They are shaped by traditional beliefs, the disruption of colonisation, religions brought to the continent by Europeans, and contemporary issues. Traditional cultural beliefs are passed down and shared by dancing , stories , songlines and art —especially Papunya Tula (dot painting)—collectively telling
2737-427: A tangible influence of Aboriginal languages in the phonology and grammatical structure ). Many but not all also speak the various traditional languages of their clans and peoples. Aboriginal people, along with Torres Strait Islander people, have a number of severe health and economic deprivations in comparison with the wider Australian community. DNA studies have confirmed that "Aboriginal Australians are one of
2856-504: A wide variety of cultural practices and beliefs that some scientists believe make up the oldest continuous cultures in the world, although this is disputed. At the time of European colonisation of Australia, the Aboriginal people consisted of complex cultural societies with more than 250 languages and varying degrees of technology and settlements. Languages (or dialects) and language-associated groups of people are connected with stretches of territory known as "Country", with which they have
2975-709: A woman judge, Jane Mathews, to be the reporter and thus the proponent women would be able to include knowledge restricted to women without violating their cultural rules. However, the Mathews Report was not able to run its full course. In 1996 the Howard Liberal government came to power and Minister Herron refused to appoint a woman to receive the report. Then, following the Federal Court judgment in Minister for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs v Western Australia , Mathews (1996: 43–6) made it plain that
3094-773: Is an increase in allele sharing between the Denisovan and Aboriginal Australian genomes, compared to other Eurasians or Africans. Examining DNA from a finger bone excavated in Siberia , researchers concluded that the Denisovans migrated from Siberia to tropical parts of Asia and that they interbred with modern humans in Southeast Asia 44,000 years BP, before Australia separated from New Guinea approximately 11,700 years BP. They contributed DNA to Aboriginal Australians and to present-day New Guineans and an indigenous tribe in
3213-477: Is based on the Aboriginal peoples' geographical isolation, with little or no interaction with outside cultures before some contact with Makassan fishermen and Dutch explorers up to 500 years ago. The Rasmussen study also found evidence that Aboriginal peoples carry some genes associated with the Denisovans (a species of human related to but distinct from Neanderthals ) of Asia; the study suggests that there
3332-461: Is mostly only a few metres deep, the river at Wellington is about 25 metres deep. The surface is often less than one metre above sea level. Once established, Wellington became a busy ferry crossing point for several decades during the 1840s to 1870s. Servicing the local pastoral district, it soon had a school, police station, and hotels, but it never prospered beyond township status. The government of South Australia has stated its intention to build
3451-480: Is no evidence for South Asian gene flow to Australia .... Despite Sahul being a single connected landmass until [8,000 years ago], different groups across Australia are nearly equally related to Papuans, and vice versa, and the two appear to have separated genetically already [about 30,000 years ago]." Aboriginal Australians possess inherited abilities to adapt to a wide range of environmental temperatures in various ways. A study in 1958 comparing cold adaptation in
3570-453: Is only in the last two hundred years that they have been defined and started to self-identify as a single group, socio-politically. While some preferred the term Aborigine to Aboriginal in the past, as the latter was seen to have more directly discriminatory legal origins, use of the term Aborigine has declined in recent decades, as many consider the term an offensive and racist hangover from Australia's colonial era. The definition of
3689-641: Is sued as the person nominated by Mr Tickner under the Australian Heritage Protection Act to receive representations from interested members of the public and to prepare the report required by the Act concerning the application for protection. Luminis Pty Ltd (Luminis) and Dr Deane Fergie are sued in respect of their provision of consultancy services to the ALRM including the preparation of a report containing an anthropological evaluation of
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3808-502: Is that the desert people are able to have a higher body temperature without accelerating the activity of the whole of the body, which can be especially detrimental in childhood diseases. This helps protect people to survive the side-effects of infection. Aboriginal people have lived for tens of thousands of years on the continent of Australia , through its various changes in landmass. The area within Australia 's borders today includes
3927-715: The CC BY 4.0 license. Wellington, South Australia Wellington is a township in South Australia , Australia on the Murray River (River Murray in South Australia) just upstream of where it empties into Lake Alexandrina . Its postcode is 5259. Wellington is in the Rural City of Murray Bridge . At the 2006 census , Wellington had a population of 295. Because of its geographical similarities,
4046-490: The CSIRO stressed the importance of taking a demand-driven approach to services in desert settlements, and concluded that "if top-down solutions continue to be imposed without appreciating the fundamental drivers of settlement in desert regions, then those solutions will continue to be partial, and ineffective in the long term." [REDACTED] This article incorporates text by Anders Bergström et al. available under
4165-609: The Environmental Defenders Office has called for the introduction of a "Protection of Public Participation Act" for South Australia. Based on North American legislation, the proposed Act would ensure that those engaged in non-violent public participation would be protected from threats or suits that infringe free speech. In early 2002, Peter Sutton , a former head of Anthropology of the South Australian Museum, who had been unable to take
4284-590: The Initial Upper Paleolithic . They are most closely related to other Oceanians , such as Melanesians . The Aboriginal Australians also show affinity to other Australasian populations, such as Negritos , as well as to East Asian peoples . Phylogenetic data suggests that an early initial eastern lineage (ENA) trifurcated somewhere in South Asia , and gave rise to Australasians (Oceanians), Ancient Ancestral South Indian (AASI), Andamanese and
4403-712: The Kimberley region in what is now Western Australia about 60,000 years ago. They migrated across the continent within 6,000 years. A 2018 study using archaeobotany dated evidence of continuous human habitation at Karnatukul (Serpent's Glen) in the Carnarvon Range in the Little Sandy Desert in WA from around 50,000 years ago. Genetic studies have revealed that Aboriginal Australians largely descended from an Eastern Eurasian population wave during
4522-683: The Northern Territory to study their genetic makeup (which is not representative of all Aboriginal peoples in Australia). The study concluded that the Warlpiri are descended from ancient Asians whose DNA is still somewhat present in Southeastern Asian groups, although greatly diminished. The Warlpiri DNA lacks certain information found in modern Asian genomes, and carries information not found in other genomes. This reinforces
4641-517: The Pleistocene epoch and lived over large sections of the Australian continental shelf when the sea levels were lower. At that time, Australia, Tasmania and New Guinea were part of the same landmass, known as Sahul . As sea levels rose, the people on the Australian mainland and nearby islands became increasingly isolated, some on Tasmania and some of the smaller offshore islands when
4760-627: The Rainbow Serpent , Baiame , Dirawong and Bunjil . Similarly, the Arrernte people of central Australia believed that humanity originated from great superhuman ancestors who brought the sun, wind and rain as a result of breaking through the surface of the Earth when waking from their slumber. Taken as a whole, Aboriginal Australians, along with Torres Strait Islander people, have a number of health and economic deprivations in comparison with
4879-539: The State Government for assistance. Beneficial Finance, a subsidiary of the state owned State Bank of South Australia , had supplied the financing for the marina development. By 1990 it was obvious that the State Bank was having financial difficulties and The State Labor government led by Premier John Bannon was anxious to protect Beneficial's large investment in the Chapman's projects. The government
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4998-555: The continental shelf . They were isolated on many of the smaller offshore islands and Tasmania when the land was inundated at the start of the Holocene inter-glacial period , about 11,700 years ago. Despite this, Aboriginal people maintained extensive networks within the continent and certain groups maintained relationships with Torres Strait Islanders and the Makassar people of modern-day Indonesia. Aboriginal Australians have
5117-516: The "history of the events, the anthropological evidence and the evidence of the dissident women" to draw this conclusion. The first Section 10 application brought by the so-called "proponent women" in 1994 under the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Heritage Protection Act 1984 (Cth) succeeded. On the basis of the Report of Law Professor Cheryl Saunders (1994), Minister Robert Tickner declared
5236-778: The 1970s and 1980s, when Aboriginal people moved to tiny remote settlements on traditional land, brought health benefits, but funding them proved expensive, training and employment opportunities were not provided in many cases, and support from governments dwindled in the 2000s, particularly in the era of the Howard government . Indigenous communities in remote Australia are often small, isolated towns with basic facilities, on traditionally owned land . These communities have between 20 and 300 inhabitants and are often closed to outsiders for cultural reasons. The long-term viability and resilience of Aboriginal communities in desert areas has been discussed by scholars and policy-makers. A 2007 report by
5355-677: The 19th century. Scholars believe that most Aboriginal Australians originated from Southeast Asia. If this is the case, Aboriginal Australians were among the first in the world to have completed sea voyages. A 2017 paper in Nature evaluated artefacts in Kakadu . Its authors concluded "Human occupation began around 65,000 years ago." A 2021 study by researchers at the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage has mapped
5474-488: The 30–40 clan-groups ( lakinyeri ) that inhabited South Australia at the time of white settlement. Originally numbering around 6,000 members, they are the only tribe in Australia whose land lay within 100 km (62 mi) of a capital city to have survived as a distinct people as recognised in the 2002 Kungun Ngarrindjeri Yunnan Agreement. In April 1990, the State Minister for Environment and Planning wrote to
5593-489: The Chapmans by the Department of Environment and Planning). She also stated her belief that as no skeletal remains had been found, no further consultation was required. The Hindmarsh Island marina was at this time losing money and the Chapmans were in financial difficulties due to the failure of another marina project they had built at Wellington . They could not afford to construct the bridge themselves so they approached
5712-440: The Chapmans granting them planning permission for the bridge to Hindmarsh Island and the extensions to their marina. The estimated cost of the bridge was around $ 6 million which was considerably more than the estimated value of the marina once completed. The planning permission was subject to a number of conditions, including the requirements for consultation with "relevant Aboriginal representative bodies" such as Ngarrendjeri Elders,
5831-451: The Chapmans had used SLAPP accusations to silence them. During the defamation case the defendants relied heavily on the defence of "fair comment upon a matter of public interest" and the " Lange Defence " ( / ˈ l ɒ ŋ i / LONG -ee – the constitutional right to freedom of speech on political matters). However the court found that these defences did not apply because the defendants were motivated by malice which had been proven by
5950-496: The Dreaming . Studies of Aboriginal groups' genetic makeup are ongoing, but evidence suggests that they have genetic inheritance from ancient Asian but not more modern peoples. They share some similarities with Papuans , but have been isolated from Southeast Asia for a very long time. They have a broadly shared, complex genetic history, but only in the last 200 years were they defined by others as, and started to self-identify as,
6069-620: The East/Southeast Asian lineage, including ancestors of the Native Americans . Papuans may have received approximately 2% of their geneflow from an earlier group (xOOA) as well, next to additional archaic admixture in the Sahul region. Aboriginal people are genetically most similar to the indigenous populations of Papua New Guinea , and more distantly related to groups from East Indonesia. They are more distinct from
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#17327662523706188-573: The Environment Ian McLachlan was forced to resign after tabling some of the secret documents in Parliament misrepresenting how he obtained them and falsely claiming they had not been marked "Confidential". The envelope had been delivered to McLachlan's office in error and despite being clearly marked "Confidential: to be read by women only" had been read, photocopied and circulated among both male and female staff. In May 1995
6307-553: The Hindmarsh Island bridge, unearthed the remains of an Aboriginal woman and child. The site had been claimed to have been a burial ground by the proponent Ngarrindjeri women during the Royal Commission. However, the Alexandrina Council decided that as the wharf was South Australia's first inland port, colonial history should take precedence over Ngarrindjeri interests and construction went ahead. Legal action
6426-881: The Holocene ( c. 4,200 years ago). The researchers had two theories for this: either some Indians had contact with people in Indonesia who eventually transferred those Indian genes to Aboriginal Australians, or a group of Indians migrated from India to Australia and intermingled with the locals directly. However, a 2016 study in Current Biology by Anders Bergström et al. excluded the Y chromosome as providing evidence for recent gene flow from India into Australia. The study authors sequenced 13 Aboriginal Australian Y chromosomes using recent advances in gene sequencing technology. They investigated their divergence times from Y chromosomes in other continents, including comparing
6545-422: The Mathews Report of June 1996 nonetheless acknowledges that the area of the proposed bridge was of significance. The dissident Ngarrindjeri women sought a declaration from the High Court that the nomination of Justice Mathews as the reporter was incompatible with her commission as a judge of the Federal Court of Australia. On 6 September 1996, the majority of the court agreed that the appointment of Justice Mathews
6664-592: The Ngarrindjerri women had come about at the meeting of the Lower Murray Aboriginal Heritage Committee. Despite evidence that the island had been mentioned as a fertility site in 1967, predating the meeting, the Royal Commission found that the secret women's business was a fabrication for the purpose of obtaining protection under the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Heritage Protection Act 1984 (Cth) . They considered
6783-859: The Northern, Southern and Central cultural areas. The Northern and Southern areas, having richer natural marine and woodland resources, were more densely populated than the Central area. There are various other names from Australian Aboriginal languages commonly used to identify groups based on geography , known as demonyms , including: Other group names are based on the language group or specific dialect spoken . These also coincide with geographical regions of varying sizes. A few examples are: However, these lists are neither exhaustive nor definitive, and there are overlaps. Different approaches have been taken by non-Aboriginal scholars in trying to understand and define Aboriginal culture and societies, some focusing on
6902-771: The Philippines known as Mamanwa . This study confirms Aboriginal Australians as one of the oldest living populations in the world. They are possibly the oldest outside Africa, and they may have the oldest continuous culture on the planet. A 2016 study at the University of Cambridge suggests that it was about 50,000 years ago that these peoples reached Sahul (the supercontinent consisting of present-day Australia and its islands and New Guinea ). The sea levels rose and isolated Australia about 10,000 years ago, but Aboriginal Australians and Papuans diverged from each other genetically earlier, about 37,000 years BP, possibly because
7021-399: The Raukkan Community Council, the Ngarrendjeri Lands and Progress Association, and the Lower Murray Heritage Committee. This was to become an issue in 1994 as the Chapmans had clearly not met these requirements. Although the Chapmans had done several environmental impact studies, submitted plans that included the bridge to the Raukkan Community Council and had also consulted with Henry Rankin,
7140-429: The River Murray for people, livestock, and goods travelling overland between Adelaide and Melbourne , until a bridge was built at Murray Bridge in 1879. There is still a free government ferry operating here. In 1852-53 much of the gold escorted by South Australian Police from the Victorian gold rushes crossed the Murray at Wellington. Even though the Murray has very little flow most of the time, and Lake Alexandrina
7259-408: The Royal Commission of 1996 finding that the main bases for the Royal Commission conclusion were not established. In particular, the late emergence of the knowledge did not provide proof of fabrication and is expected in the case of genuine sacred information, lack of recording in the literature was not inconsistent with the material, that it was inappropriate to assert that a particular spiritual belief
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#17327662523707378-410: The act to authorise damage to the identified sites if required for the bridge to proceed. Work recommenced and a number of protestors were arrested. It has since been pointed out that Justice Jacobs and the government had missed an opportunity to cancel the bridge contract. They had overlooked that Aboriginal Heritage legislation overrides all contractual obligations. Many people, including a majority of
7497-444: The ancient people expanded and differentiated into distinct groups, each with its own language and culture. More than 400 distinct Australian Aboriginal peoples have been identified, distinguished by names designating their ancestral languages, dialects, or distinctive speech patterns. According to noted anthropologist , archaeologist and sociologist Harry Lourandos , historically, these groups lived in three main cultural areas,
7616-422: The bridge. Aboriginal Australian Aboriginal Australians are the various Indigenous peoples of the Australian mainland and many of its islands, excluding the ethnically distinct people of the Torres Strait Islands . Humans first migrated to Australia at least 65,000 years ago, and over time formed as many as 500 language-based groups . In the past, Aboriginal people lived over large sections of
7735-407: The contents of sealed envelopes that he had never read. In fact Saunders' assessment had stressed that the contents were not needed to reach a decision, as there was enough evidence supporting their contents in the assessment and public domain. In fact, Tickner is on record in the February court case as stating that his decision was not based on the envelopes' contents. In March, Shadow Minister for
7854-402: The context of the 1967 amendment. Justice John von Doussa of the Federal Court heard from all parties to the dispute in the course of the action brought by the Chapmans. In the summary of his Reasons for Decision, von Doussa stated 5. This action seeks damages for losses allegedly suffered by Binalong from five respondents. Mr Tickner is sued as the former Minister. Professor Cheryl Saunders
7973-469: The council area where the Ngarrindjeri may have rights, interests or obligations. On 7 July 2010, in a ceremony at the foot of the bridge, the Government of South Australia endorsed the finding that the "secret women's business" was genuine. Ngarrindjeri elders then led a symbolic walk across the bridge. Elders now believe it is acceptable for Ngarrindjeri people to use the bridge to gain access to their land and waters, but culturally and morally still reject
8092-452: The deep split between Leang Panninge and Aboriginal/Papuans. Mallick et al. 2016 and Mark Lipson et al. 2017 study found the bifurcation of Eastern Eurasians and Western Eurasians dates to least 45,000 years ago, with indigenous Australians nested inside the Eastern Eurasian clade. Two genetic studies by Larena et al. 2021 found that Philippines Negrito people split from the common ancestor of Aboriginal Australians and Papuans before
8211-421: The defendants, being engaged in a "campaign" to stop the bridge, and the "targeting" of the Chapmans. The judgement was of concern to environmental activists because any form of direct action such as non-violent picketing, boycotting, or attempts to coerce changes of policy or behaviour, while not illegal, could be imputed as "malice" in any resulting defamation claim. As a result of the Chapman defamation actions,
8330-497: The desert-dwelling Pitjantjatjara people compared with a group of European people showed that the cooling adaptation of the Aboriginal group differed from that of the white people, and that they were able to sleep more soundly through a cold desert night. A 2014 Cambridge University study found that a beneficial mutation in two genes which regulate thyroxine , a hormone involved in regulating body metabolism , helps to regulate body temperature in response to fever. The effect of this
8449-408: The developers and dismissed the claims of fabrication. Developers Tom and Wendy Chapman and their son Andrew took defamation action against conservation groups, academics, politicians, media operators, printers and individuals who had spoken out against the Bridge. The Chapmans received court judgements of around $ 850,000 in their favour. The bulk of the damages related to claims by the defendants that
8568-685: The existing Cable ferry would not be able to handle the increased traffic. In October 1989, approval was granted for a bridge, to be financed by the Chapmans, subject to an Environmental Impact Study (EIS). The EIS (the Edmonds Report) was completed within two weeks and identified the need for an anthropological study. The Chapmans funded a study by Rod Lucas who reported in January 1990 that existing written records did not record mythological sites, but cautioned that consultation with Indigenous groups would be required. The Ngarrindjeri are one of
8687-647: The financial arrangements between the government, the Chapmans and Westpac, and recommended that the government reconsider the bridge and examine whether the bridge could be replaced by a second ferry. In early October, the Lower Murray Heritage Committee wrote to the Aboriginal Affairs Minister asking him to protect Aboriginal sites on Hindmarsh Island however, work on the bridge began on 27 October 1993 though it quickly ceased due to industrial action. Largely due to
8806-706: The financial disaster of the State Bank collapse leaving the state essentially bankrupt, Labor was routed in the December 1993 election and the Liberals came to power with Dean Brown as Premier. When in opposition the Liberals had campaigned against the Hindmarsh Island Bridge and stopping it was a campaign promise during the election. Further up the Murray, the local community in Berri was campaigning for
8925-621: The first European colonists likened the development potential of the site of Wellington to that of New Orleans . In 1839 the London-based Secondary Towns Association, represented in Adelaide by John Morphett and John Hill , authorised expenditure on the special survey a proposed town to be named Wellington, with prior consent of the Duke of Wellington himself. Despite never having seen the land except on
9044-635: The group's claims became known, became the subject of intense legal battles. Some Ngarrindjeri women came forward to dispute the veracity of the claims. The Hindmarsh Island Royal Commission found that "secret women's business" had been fabricated. Subsequently, the Howard Government passed the Hindmarsh Island Bridge Act (1997) , which allowed construction to go ahead. The bridge was completed in March 2001. In August 2001,
9163-714: The haplogroup C chromosomes. They found a divergence time of about 54,100 years between the Sahul C chromosome and its closest relative C5, as well as about 54,300 years between haplogroups K*/M and their closest haplogroups R and Q. The deep divergence time of 50,000-plus years with the South Asian chromosome and "the fact that the Aboriginal Australian Cs share a more recent common ancestor with Papuan Cs" excludes any recent genetic contact. The 2016 study's authors concluded that, although this does not disprove
9282-401: The idea of ancient Aboriginal isolation. Genetic data extracted in 2011 by Morten Rasmussen et al., who took a DNA sample from an early-20th-century lock of an Aboriginal person's hair, found that the Aboriginal ancestors probably migrated through South Asia and Maritime Southeast Asia , into Australia, where they stayed. As a result, outside of Africa, the Aboriginal peoples have occupied
9401-653: The increased suicide rate, many researchers have suggested that the inclusion of more cultural aspects into suicide prevention programs would help to combat mental health issues within the community. Past studies have found that many indigenous leaders and community members, do in fact, want more culturally-aware health care programs. Similarly, culturally-relative programs targeting indigenous youth have actively challenged suicide ideation among younger indigenous populations, with many social and emotional wellbeing programs using cultural information to provide coping mechanisms and improving mental health. The outstation movement of
9520-511: The indigenous populations of Borneo and Malaysia , sharing drift with them than compared to the groups from Papua New Guinea and Indonesia. This indicates that populations in Australia were isolated for a long time from the rest of Southeast Asia. They remained untouched by migrations and population expansions into that area, which can be explained by the Wallace line . In a 2001 study, blood samples were collected from some Warlpiri people in
9639-470: The island's inhabitants, variously opposed the government funding of a project for the benefit of private developers, the urbanisation of Hindmarsh Island and/or the effects it would have on the natural environment had also voiced their opposition. Initiating legal action in April 1994 they applied to the federal government for an order prohibiting construction. On 12 May, shortly before construction began, at
9758-572: The islands of Tasmania , K'gari (previously Fraser Island) , Hinchinbrook Island , the Tiwi Islands , Kangaroo Island and Groote Eylandt . Indigenous people of the Torres Strait Islands, however, are not Aboriginal. In the 2021 census , people who self-identified on the census form as being of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander origin totalled 812,728 out of a total of 25,422,788 Australians, equating to 3.2% of Australia's population and an increase of 163,557 people, or 25.2%, since
9877-407: The issue to the present day. In 1977, Adelaide developers Tom and Wendy Chapman, trading as Binalong Pty Ltd, purchased 30 hectares (74 acres) of land on Hindmarsh Island in the Murray River estuary and later received planning permission for their company to build a 560-berth marina , car parking, residential development, conference centre, golf course and associated buildings. Wendy Chapman
9996-400: The land was inundated at the start of the Holocene , the inter-glacial period that started about 11,700 years ago. Scholars of this ancient history believe that it would have been difficult for Aboriginal people to have originated purely from mainland Asia. Not enough people would have migrated to Australia and surrounding islands to fulfill the beginning of the size of the population seen in
10115-406: The last 10,000 years it may have occurred—newer analytical techniques have the potential to address such questions. Bergstrom's 2018 doctoral thesis looking at the population of Sahul suggests that other than relatively recent admixture, the populations of the region appear to have been genetically independent from the rest of the world since their divergence about 50,000 years ago. He writes "There
10234-524: The latter two diverged from each other, but after their common ancestor diverged from the ancestor of East Asian peoples . The dingo reached Australia about 4,000 years ago. Near that time, there were changes in language (with the Pama-Nyungan language family spreading over most of the mainland), and in stone tool technology. Smaller tools were used. Human contact has thus been inferred, and genetic data of two kinds have been proposed to support
10353-496: The likely migration routes of the peoples as they moved across the Australian continent to its southern reaches and what is now Tasmania , then part of the mainland. The modelling is based on data from archaeologists , anthropologists , ecologists , geneticists , climatologists , geomorphologists , and hydrologists . It is intended to compare this data with the oral histories of Aboriginal peoples, including Dreaming stories, Australian rock art , and linguistic features of
10472-518: The liquidators. In regards to the financial losses the Chapmans believed had resulted from the heritage applications, the Chapmans claimed financial losses of $ 16.58 million based on the difference between what the Chapmans paid Westpac and what they claimed the completed marina would have sold for had the bridge been built prior to 1994. In 2001 this court action failed. In June 1995, the Hindmarsh Island Royal Commission
10591-423: The many Aboriginal languages which reveal how the peoples developed separately. The routes, dubbed "superhighways" by the authors, are similar to current highways and stock routes in Australia. Lynette Russell of Monash University believes that the new model is a starting point for collaboration with Aboriginal people to help reveal their history. The new models suggest that the first people may have landed in
10710-404: The marina to Kebaro Pty Ltd, a family trust belonging to the Chapmans for $ 50,000 with a further $ 1.3 million to follow at a later date. A further assessment of the marina now revised its value to $ 4.5 million. As part of the transaction, the liquidator of Binalong agreed to assign Binalong's causes of action to Mr and Mrs Chapman who would then pay a percentage of any damages recovered in court to
10829-429: The media and politicians aired the claims of five "dissident" Aboriginal women who stated that what had become known as "secret women's business" must have been "fabricated" by the "proponents" because they either had no knowledge of the secrets or did not believe them. The Royal Commission identified at least twelve separate aspects to the claim of "secret women's business" during the course of its inquiry. This knowledge
10948-403: The micro-level (tribe, clan, etc.), and others on shared languages and cultural practices spread over large regions defined by ecological factors. Anthropologists have encountered many difficulties in trying to define what constitutes an Aboriginal people/community/group/tribe, let alone naming them. Knowledge of pre-colonial Aboriginal cultures and societal groupings is still largely dependent on
11067-411: The observers' interpretations, which were filtered through colonial ways of viewing societies. Some Aboriginal peoples identify as one of several saltwater, freshwater, rainforest or desert peoples . The term Aboriginal Australians includes many distinct peoples who have developed across Australia for over 50,000 years. These peoples have a broadly shared, though complex, genetic history, but it
11186-638: The oldest living populations in the world, certainly the oldest outside of Africa." Their ancestors left the African continent 75,000 years ago. They may have the oldest continuous culture on earth. In Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory , oral histories comprising complex narratives have been passed down by Yolngu people through hundreds of generations. The Aboriginal rock art , dated by modern techniques, shows that their culture has continued from ancient times. The ancestors of present-day Aboriginal Australian people migrated from Southeast Asia by sea during
11305-421: The original 250–400 Aboriginal languages (more than 250 languages and about 800 dialectal varieties on the continent) are endangered or extinct, although some efforts are being made at language revival for some. As of 2016, only 13 traditional Indigenous languages were still being acquired by children, and about another 100 spoken by older generations only. Dispersing across the Australian continent over time,
11424-420: The other studies had utilised complete Y chromosome sequencing, which has the highest precision. For example, use of a ten Y STRs method has been shown to massively underestimate divergence times. Gene flow across the island-dotted 150-kilometre-wide (93 mi) Torres Strait, is both geographically plausible and demonstrated by the data, although at this point it could not be determined from this study when within
11543-440: The presence of any Holocene gene flow or non-genetic influences from South Asia at that time, and the appearance of the dingo does provide strong evidence for external contacts, the evidence overall is consistent with a complete lack of gene flow, and points to indigenous origins for the technological and linguistic changes. They attributed the disparity between their results and previous findings to improvements in technology; none of
11662-414: The previous census in 2016. Reasons for the increase were broadly as follows: Most Aboriginal people speak English, with Aboriginal phrases and words being added to create Australian Aboriginal English (which also has a tangible influence of Aboriginal languages in the phonology and grammatical structure ). Some Aboriginal people, especially those living in remote areas, are multi-lingual. Many of
11781-487: The remaining land bridge was impassable. This isolation makes the Aboriginal people the world's oldest culture. The study also found evidence of an unknown hominin group, distantly related to Denisovans, with whom the Aboriginal and Papuan ancestors must have interbred, leaving a trace of about 4% in most Aboriginal Australians' genome. There is, however, increased genetic diversity among Aboriginal Australians based on geographical distribution. Carlhoff et al. 2021 analysed
11900-480: The request of the Ngarrindjeri, the Federal Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, Robert Tickner issued an emergency declaration blocking work on the bridge, and then appointed a lawyer, Professor Cheryl Saunders OA , to report on the significant Aboriginal sites. Saunders consulted with a range of interested parties, including a group of Ngarrindjeri women who claimed Hindmarsh Island was sacred to them as
12019-532: The restricted women's knowledge was fabricated or that it was not part of genuine Aboriginal tradition. One of the two key independent expert witnesses from the South Australian Museum , Philip Clarke, was found by the Federal Court at [373] to have erred in terms of professional objectivity before the Royal Commission when it was discovered that he had been secretly helping the lawyers for the "dissident" Ngarrindjerri women. The court found against
12138-406: The same territory continuously longer than any other human populations. These findings suggest that modern Aboriginal Australians are the direct descendants of the eastern wave, who left Africa up to 75,000 years ago. This finding is compatible with earlier archaeological finds of human remains near Lake Mungo that date to approximately 40,000 years ago. The idea of the "oldest continuous culture"
12257-556: The significance of secret women's knowledge within Aboriginal tradition to the area where the bridge was to be constructed. The last respondent is the Commonwealth of Australia which is sued for compensation on the basis that the declaration under the Heritage Protection Act resulted in the acquisition of property belonging to Binalong. Von Doussa found for the respondents. His findings took issue with those of
12376-589: The story of creation known as The Dreamtime . Additionally, traditional healers were also custodians of important Dreaming stories as well as their medical roles (for example the Ngangkari in the Western desert ). Some core structures and themes are shared across the continent with details and additional elements varying between language and cultural groups. For example, in The Dreamtime of most regions,
12495-409: The term Aboriginal has changed over time and place, with the importance of family lineage, self-identification and community acceptance all being of varying importance. The term Indigenous Australians refers to Aboriginal Australians and Torres Strait Islander peoples, and the term is conventionally only used when both groups are included in the topic being addressed, or by self-identification by
12614-517: The wider Australian community. Due to the aforementioned disadvantage, Aboriginal Australian communities experience a higher rate of suicide, as compared to non-indigenous communities. These issues stem from a variety of different causes unique to indigenous communities, such as historical trauma, socioeconomic disadvantage, and decreased access to education and health care. Also, this problem largely affects indigenous youth, as many indigenous youth may feel disconnected from their culture. To combat
12733-404: The women could not rely on material that was not being made available to the other parties most closely affected by the application. Rather than have their stories read by a male minister and made available to other parties, the women withdrew their restricted material. They chose not to violate their religious law that women's knowledge was for women's eyes only. Although this knowledge was missing,
12852-410: Was a former Lord Mayor of Adelaide from 1983 to 1985. With the marina only partially completed, in 1988 the Chapmans applied for permission to increase the size of the project as the original project was found to be financially unviable. The Planning Assessment Commission rejected the proposal, stating that the development couldn't expand unless a bridge was built from Goolwa to Hindmarsh Island as
12971-438: Was accepted that the government would pay the whole cost of the bridge while the Chapmans would pay back half at a later date, but only after Binalong had paid off all its debts to Westpac. Binalong owed so much money to the State Bank through Beneficial Finance that Bannon apparently had no choice but to prop the company up. The State Bank collapsed not long after with debts of $ 3 billion. On 22 November 1990, Premier Bannon wrote
13090-428: Was also under pressure for a series of major projects it had promised that had never eventuated so the bridge project was also seen as likely to be the only major success Labor would be able to claim for the next election. The State government made a deal with the Chapmans. Binalong would pay up front for the bridge to be built. Then the State government would reimburse Binalong for half of the cost of construction, up to
13209-460: Was an unlawful inquiry into their spiritual beliefs. The "dissident women" were diverse in age and cultural traditions or awareness, and were considered by the Commissioner to be 'credible' and their testimony was corroborated by support from two anthropologists from the South Australian Museum. In December the Royal Commission found that the idea of Hindmarsh Island as being significant to
13328-480: Was called by the South Australian government , following South Australian media reports of five Ngarrindjeri women disputing the existence of "secret women's business" on the island. The Commission provoked significant and lasting controversy over its five month deliberation. The women who asserted the existence of "secret women's business" refused to give evidence to the Royal Commission on the basis that it
13447-540: Was claimed to be of great antiquity, and passed only to a small number of properly initiated women, hence the ignorance of prior anthropologists to the myth. The most prominent aspects of the claims are listed below: In 1994, Binalong went into liquidation owing Partnership Pacific $ 18.5 million with Westpac taking possession of the marina as mortgagee. The marina was at this time valued at up to $ 1.35 million. Following protracted negotiations, in September 1997 Westpac sold
13566-592: Was contemplated but after negotiations, the Alexandrina Council formally apologised to the Ngarrindjeri and entered into a Kungun Ngarrindjeri Yunnan ("Listen to Ngarrindjeri Speaking") agreement where the Council acknowledged Ngarrindjeri rights as the traditional owners of the country and their existence as an identifiable group of people with their own laws, customs, beliefs and traditions, which must be taken into consideration for any developments within
13685-605: Was invalid. In part due to the furore over the bridge, Tickner lost his own seat in the 1996 election , at which Labor was heavily defeated by the Coalition under John Howard . Soon after coming to power, the Howard Government legislated to allow the bridge to proceed. The Hindmarsh Island Bridge Act 1997 (Cth) removed protections granted by the Heritage Protection Act to the construction of
13804-528: Was irrational, Wilson's testimony was not reliable and Milera's was a personal belief and not evidence of fabrication. Most significantly, the various accounts of the Seven Sisters story given were consistent. He wrote: 12. ... the evidence received by the Court on this topic is significantly different to that which was before the Royal Commission. Upon the evidence before this Court I am not satisfied that
13923-549: Was no way out of building the bridge without significant financial liabilities. On 29 April 1994, Draper presented his report to the new Liberal government. The report mentioned that the area had spiritual significance to Aboriginal women, identified a number of significant sites and argued that they should be protected under the State Aboriginal Heritage Act . On 3 May the State Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, Dr Michael Armitage , now used his powers under
14042-423: Was the government liable for Westpac's losses if it did not build the bridge but even if the bridge was built and Westpac suffered any losses from stages two, three and four of the marina project, the government was now also liable to cover those losses which could run to hundreds of millions of dollars. A deed was signed in March 1993 binding the government to this commitment. Public outrage at government funding of
14161-412: Was valid, with Justice Kirby dissenting. Judgments regarding the ambit of section 51(xxvi) noted that the actual wording of the amended section did not limit Parliament to the enactment of only beneficial laws. This controversial judgment did little to limit the scope of section 51(xxvi), and has been criticised for failing to create adequate protections against discriminatory legislation and disregarding
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